an unfortunate encounter
by tanya-arianneNL
Summary: Will has a reunion and drags Diane along with him.


_authors note: I know I'm also working on another story but this jus popped in my head. I haven't checked the contend so there might be a few mistakes._

**An unfortunate encounter**

"Diane?" Diane looked up and saw Will standing in her door. "Yes", she replied, the annoyance didn't go unnoticed by will and he figured she was probably still mad at him. He had been thinking about how to bring his request, mostly because he knew she wouldn't be too happy about it anyway. Keeping this in mind he decided to cut to the chase, but he already regretted his decision before he'd even started. "I need to ask you a favor, I have a reunion from my old high school and I said I would bring someone." Her head shot up at his last comment and she said sharply, "I don't see what that has to do with me?" "Well, I'd hoped Alicia could go with me but she can't, so I was wondering if you could… " He trailed of when he saw the look in her eyes. "I don't see why, just go alone!" Diane snapped irritated at his nerves. "I can't!" Will almost cried desperately, this was not going in the right direction. "Yes you can! Now go away, some people actually come to the office to work!" Diane's annoyance had turned in anger. How dared he to ask something like this after all that had happened the past few weeks. She expected him to back off quietly, but instead he kept standing in her door. "which part of 'go away' do you not understand?" "I know why you're angry at me, but high school sucked… I was the geek of my class and there was a group of boys who always picked on me. There was this one guy, called Thomas Hall, who always beat me up. I can't go face him alone, but I don't expect you would understand." "excuse me?" Diane temporary forgot she was angry with him and felt a pang of pity. Will looked surprised at her. "you just seem the type who got along with everybody on school, that's all." It was true what he said, she had many friends, but It did not mean she couldn't understand him. "please go with me, Diane?" Will looked at her with puppy dog eyes . "Very well then, just tell me when." "Next Saturday at eight, I'll pick you up."

Saturday came much too quick to Diane's liking, but she had agreed to go with Will and she had to keep her promise. Not that she had much choice, he would've probably dragged her to his high school if she refused. Will came at exactly eight hours and they left. "I haven't been completely honest." Will confessed to her. "I have said I would bring my fiancée tonight…" "what! Turn around, I'm not going to pretend I'm you fiancée!" "We're already here, so either you walk home or you come inside" "I'll go for the former option" Diane got out of the car and started to walk. Will could've known, there was no one as stubborn as Diane. He went after her, "Diane, please, you can hate me as much as you want after this" The truth was he'd known Alicia wouldn't be able to make it, so he hadn't told anyone he would bring a date. Only after Diane said yes he told the reunion committee he was bringing his fiancée. He knew it wasn't fair to let her do this for him. Very recently she had to deal with one of his problems as well by going to the states attorney and his slimy special prosecutor: Wendy Scott Car. It was a wonder she could stand being in the same room with those two, but she managed it and Will was grateful. Now she had to deal with his past as well, but will wasn't ready to face Thomas Hall alone and he wasn't sure if he would ever be. Finally Diane turned around, "fine, but I only do this to teach those boys a lesson!" Will almost chuckled at the thought of Diane teaching Thomas Hall a lesson, if she wanted him to go under he certainly would. As soon as they came inside Diane switched in fiancée mode. Will knew she was incredibly good at pretending, normally it bothered him, because he never knew what was going through her head. Diane had the habit to keep things for herself until the right moment occurred and that right moment was often most unfavorable for Will. This time however he was thankful she was able to pretend she was his fiancée. "let me take that." He took her coat and they headed towards Will's old math class. Despite their little conversation earlier they were one of the first to arrive, which meant Thomas Hall wasn't there yet. Slowly the room filled with people, but no sign of Thomas. It was only when Will's old mentor said his welcome, a smooth looking man entered the room. We're so sorry we're late. Behind him in the door appeared a woman. "no, you got to be kidding! Stacy Hall?" Diane whispered to Will. "yes, they're twins, you know her?" "I certainly do, she's the one who stole the cheese business from Eli!" Will realized this was going to be a long, long night for both of them.

Comprehension was visible on Will's face, mixed with the sheer disgust for the tall man in front of Stacy Hall. "Don't worry, please sit down", it sounded from the other side of the room and Will returned his attention to mister Jones, who was giving a sort of speech. Will couldn't concentrate anymore, which had mostly to do with Thomas, who was seated right next to them and had been staring to her legs constantly the past five minutes. Will, being a man couldn't say he'd never noticed them himself, but he tensed when he caught Thomas looking. Thomas had always had quite a bad reputation concerning woman and suddenly Will regretted bringing Diane. She was one of his best friends and he would never forgive himself if something bad happened to her. He shook the thoughts of, after all he was with her, what on earth could happen? "If you would all be so kind to follow me to the forum", the voice of Mister Jones made him snap out of his thinking. He and Diane stood up from the school banks and while they were leaving he couldn't help but cast a cautious glance at the man behind him, who walked just a little to close in his opinion. When they walked through the long corridors he couldn't help but feel like a teenager again, even though it wasn't a comforting feeling, taken that this was the day he planned to stand up against his high school enemy. They entered the forum and Will took in his surroundings, it looked like nothing had changed in the years Will had spend to build up his career, almost as if he had travelled back in time and ended up in his younger years.

"Shall I get us a drink?" Will asked, trying to make up for the happenings earlier. He had to calm the waters between them, because Diane was still a bit irritated, he knew her too well to be fooled by her demeanor. "A white wine please", a small smile graced Diane's features for only a split second, but Will knew he was on the right track. On the other side of the room was a table with drinks on it and Will tried to make his way through the crowd. "Hello gorgeous." Diane spun around to see who had spoken, only to see Thomas Hall standing behind her. She opened her mouth to make a stinging remark, but he was quicker, "I saw you with that Gardner guy if I'm not mistaken? What is someone like you doing with someone like him?" He leaned closer and put a straw of hair out of her face, brushing against her cheek with his fingers while doing so. Diane stepped back in disgust, "Well someone like him is so much better then someone like you, if you get what I mean, so if you'll excuse me I better get going." She already turned around when a hand seized her arm and pulled her back. "No one denies me", Thomas whispered, his words dripping from venom. "Oh, I think I just did." Diane said in a sweet tone. "You know I just don't like man who are so full of themselves and believe me I've met quite a few, but never one like you. No that's not positive." Thomas gawped at her trying to think of a witty response but none came. "Thomas!" Will had returned with her drink and she needed it badly. I see you've met my fiancée, Diane Lockhart? I wish I could say it's my pleasure, but unfortunately that would be a lie." Thomas looked as if he was going to explode, but before he could open his mouth they were joined by another person.

"Miss Lockhart? To what do we owe this pleasure?" the high pitched and sarcastic voice carried all the way through the room and several eyes looked up to determine the source of it. Stacy Hall was standing behind her brother, hands placed on her hips, obviously impatiently waiting for an explanation. Diane, although she didn't know the woman too well, already knew this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. She advanced herself to her full height, which in her case was quite effectively, causing the other woman to back off slightly. However Stacy immediately regained her posture, "Are you here with Will?" "Yes, why do you ask." Diane responded in surprise, she had expected a more aggressive sentence. "Does Eli know where you are." This startled her even more, what had Eli to do with her going to Will's reunion. When Stacy saw the look on her face she added, "Come on Diane, you're not stupid, well maybe you are but let's assume you're not, have you've never see him look at you." Stacy's lips formed a wicked smile. "I know relationships in the workplace are unethical, but you can't stop it." Diane was caught off guard by the comments before it dawned on her, Stacy was trying to get under her skin. She probably knew very well they were close friends and that Diane would find it terrible to lose him as a friend. "Stacy, you are seeing things that aren't there, you've probably been lonely for a very long time, but don't bother me with it. Stacy stood paralyzed, unable to speak for a moment. "Am I missing something?" Thomas asked. Will fought the urge to roll his eyes, Thomas always had been rather slow, but this was a new sort of low, even for Thomas' standards, which weren't very high to begin with. Stacy was the first to respond, "I've had some business at miss Lockhart's firm, that's all." "Well if by business you mean stealing clients from my crisis manager, then yes that's correct." The look on Diane's face did not mean any good, but Stacy's facial expression could match them. Will looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering when it was going to get out of hand. Everyone around them had stopped in mid sentence to watch the two woman arguing with each other. "I merely wanted what was best for the client in question." "Come on Stacy, we've just confirmed I'm not stupid. You may have won the first round, but the game has just started." Diane stood up right, exaggerating her height even further. She knew she was being hypocrite, because she had just reminded Eli it was not a battle against Stacy, but the woman brought it on herself, if she wanted war, she could get it." "Well I see…" with those last words Stacy walked away, her shoulders tensed and her head held high

"Eli already told me she wasn't an easy person, but I had not expected anything like this." Will managed to bring out, still perplexed by the conversation, if not fight between his partner and his former classmate. They had both completely forgotten about Thomas, who was still standing next to them. "Hey hold your tongue, that's my sister you're talking about." "Yes, we've noticed that, thank you for reminding us." Really, did he think she cared? Diane was getting tired of talking to both Hall siblings. "No one speaks like that about my sister!" Thomas was getting to work on her nerves, "Don't be a hypocrite, like you're such an angel, from what I've heard you're certainly not!" Thomas was positively fuming now, "Don't you dare say anything about me or my sister ever again." Will sensed it was going to be ugly and he placed his hand on the small of her back trying to guide her away from the man standing in front of her, but Diane freed herself and faced Thomas once again. "Or else?" "You don't want to know." Thomas left the threat hanging in the air and stormed of, pushing Diane out of his way, causing her to fall backwards, but before she hit the ground she was caught by Will. This was the limit, "Apologize!" he demanded. "I'm not going to apologize to that bitch, you deserve each other!" Thomas grinned. Will was furious, he raised his fist and punched Thomas right in the face. "No one calls her a bitch!" Without waiting for his opposite to recover, he gripped his partners hand and dragged her along. "Come on Diane, I think we've caused enough disturbance for one night."

Along the drive back they were silent, both their minds full of what had happened. when they arrived at Diane's house, Diane did not immediately undo her seatbelt. When she finally did and left the car she turned around before closing the door, "Thank you." "No thank you, Diane, you've made this evening certainly interesting." Diane chuckled, "Well, don't get used to it, see you tomorrow." And with that she walked away.


End file.
